Method of treating ores.



. PAIENTEDV JAN. 6, 1903.

J. T. JONES. METHOD 0F TREATING GRES, APPLICATION FILED DEO. 2. 1901.

Jl nl \No MODEL.

NrTnD 'STATES PATENT Ormes;

JOHN T. JONES, OF IRON MOUNTAIN, MICHIGAN.

METHOD oF TREATING ones..

SPECIFICATION forming part 0f Letters Patent NO. 717,864, dated January 6, 1903.

l l Application filed December 2, 1901. Serial No. 84,436.v (No specimens.)

ji'o all whom t may concern.' p

Beit known that I, JOHN T. JONES, a citizen of the United States,residing atIron Mountain,in the county ofDickinson and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Method of Treating Ores, of Which the followin;r is a specification.

Myinvention relates to an im proved method of bringing about the thorough subjection of a mass of ore to the action of a chemical tiuid of less specific gravity than the ore to treat the latter.

Vhile my improved method may be advantageously employed in the treatment of various ores to dissolve out the values or bring about chemical reactions, it is more especially designed for hastening and rendering thorough the subjection of the copper in copperbearing ores to the leaching action of sulfurous acid.

In the accompanying drawing I show apparatus of simple construction which may be employed in the practice of my method.

The veW represents in cross-section a vessel or barrel A of special construction supported to rotate on rollers B B. To render the practice of the method as economical as` possible, the barrel should have comparatively great capacity. It may be constructed with an internal diameter of, say, ten feet and be, say, sixteen feet in length, adapting it to the treatment of, say, tentons of the ore in a single charge. The construction shown is formed of heavy oak staves a, reinforced with heavy iron hoops b and lined around its inner circumference throughout with blocks O, held firmly in place, as by means of bolts c. The blocks U project inward from the circumferential Wall of the barrel and are formed with concave sides, presentingdippers facing in one direction around the interior of the barrel. In one side of the barrel is a filling and discharging opening d, which may be tightly closed with a suitable removable plug. The blocks C should be of a material or faced with a materialsuch as fire-clay, porcelain, or the like-*which will be durable `and withstand any deleterious action of the acids used in the treatment of the ore.

In treating copper-bearing ores with sulfurous-acid gas in accordance with my method labove the pulp with the gas.

the barrel is half filled-say to the line :n with the pulverized ore mixed with Water to form a pulp. Ahose communicating With a sulfurous-acid-gas supplier is then inserted through the opening d to fill out the space The gas being Iof greater specific gravity than the atmosphere displaces the same and forces it out through the opening d until the filling is completed. A plug is then insertedto close the opening CZ, and the barrel is rotated slowly in the direction of the arrow. In the movement of the dippers they rise at one side from the pulp filled with a portion thereof, and in their movement to the highest point they discharge the pulp gradually and cause it to fall through the body of sulfurous-acid gas. As the dippers descend into the pulp on the opposite side they carry down sulfurous-acid gas and discharge it gradually as they descend toward the lowest point. The gas being lighter than the pulp willV risethrough the pulp as fast as it is discharged from the descending dippers. The simultaneous spraying of the pulp through the body of the gas and rise of gas through the mass of pulp quickly brings about a thorough subjection of the entire mass of pulp throughout to the action of the sulfurous acid.

In the treatment of copper ores with sulfurous acid it is desirable, if not necessary, to prevent the formation of sulfuric acid or copper sulfate, and this is rendered possible by maintaining the charge at a temperature below about 42 centigrade. The pulp and sulfurous acid when placed in the barrel or vessel should have a temperature of, say, 16 centigrade or under, whereby the chemical reactions resultant upon the use of the amount of gas employed in a single charge would not raise the temperature above 42o centigrade. In case the pulp has not been treated by-a single charge ofthe sulfurous gas sufficiently to leach out the copper a hose or pipe from a chilled-air supplier' may be inserted through the opening cl to discharge the refrigerating duid into the barrel until the pulp has been sufficiently cooled down, when it may again be treated With a fresh charge of sulfurous acid, as before. If desired, refrigeratingpipes of suitable material may pass through the barrel or be embedded in the lining O ICO thereof to keep the temperature of the contents of the barrel at all times sufficiently below 42 centigrade. The step of cooling or maintaining cool the contents of the barrel is a desirable feature of my improved method when applied to the treatment of copper ore with sulfurous acid, as described. However, the tendency toward the production of sulfuric acid at a temperature above 42 centigrade makes it possible, when desired, to make a sulfate by dispensing with the refrigerating step.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The process of mixing with ore, to be treated, a leaching fluid, which consists in confining the mass of ore in a vessel with a body of leaching liuid of lesser specific gravity superimposed upon it, carrying portions of the ore upward in said vessel and releasing it above the body of leaching fluid to precipitate it through said body, and simultaneously convey portions of the leaching iiuid below the surface of the mass of ore and releasing it and permitting it to rise through the same.

2. The process of mixing with ore, to be treated, a leaching Iiuid, which consists in confining the ore in the condition of pulp in a vessel with a body of leaching lluidof lesser yspecific gravity superimposed upon it, carrying portions of the pulp upward in said vessel and releasing it above the body of leaching fluid to precipitate it through said body, and simultaneously conveying portions of the leaching iluid below the surface of the mass of pulp and releasing it and permitting it to rise through the same.

3. The process of mixing sulfurous-acid gas with copper ore in the condition vof pulp, which consists in confining the mass of pulp in a vessel witha body of sulfurous-acid gas superimposed upou it, carrying portions of the pulp upward in said vessel and releasing it above the body of gas to precipitate it through said body, simultaneously conveying portions of the gas below the surface of the mass of pulp and releasing it and permitting it to rise through the same, and subjecting the pulp in the vessel to the action of a cooling fiuid, substantially as set forth.

JOHN T. JONES.

In presence of- ALBERT D. BACCI, WM. B. DAVIES. 

